MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. The Russian Emergencies Ministry’s humanitarian aid convoy has left the southern Russian Rostov Region for the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine, the ministry told TASS.

“The convoy comprising more than 130 trucks has departed from the Emergencies Ministry’s Donskoy rescue center in the Rostov Region and is heading to the Russian border,” a ministry spokesman said.

The trucks are carrying more than 1,200 metric tons of humanitarian cargo, including canned meats, fish, milk, as well as sugar and equipment to ensure operation of socially significant facilities.

The preparation for the journey has been held for a few days, with trucks with humanitarian cargos from different Russian regions, including the town of Noginsk in the Moscow Region, arriving in the southern Russian Rostov Region, where the convoy was being formed.

This is the ninth convoy of humanitarian aid for Donbass. Since August 11, more than 10,700 metric tons of humanitarian cargo has been delivered to Donetsk and Lugansk.

The Emergencies Ministry plans to form a tenth truck convoy soon. Deputy Emergencies Minister Vladimir Stepanov said it will be sent to Donbass (Donetsk and Lugansk regions) before New Year, approximately after December 20. Besides foodstuffs and essential items, it will also contain fir-trees, New Year’s gifts and toys for children.

Fierce clashes between troops loyal to Kiev and local militias in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions during Kiev’s military operation, conducted since mid-April, to regain control over the breakaway southeastern territories, which call themselves the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics, have killed over 4,000 people.

The parties to the Ukrainian conflict agreed on a ceasefire at talks mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on September 5 in Belarusian capital Minsk two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed his plan to settle the situation in the east of Ukraine.

The ceasefire took effect the same day but has reportedly been violated on numerous occasions.

In another attempt by both parties to the Ukrainian conflict to put an end to hostilities, the "day of silence" in eastern Ukraine began at 09:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) on Tuesday, December 9.

MOSCOW, January 27 (Sputnik) – Russia is forming yet another convoy that will deliver humanitarian aid to Ukraine's conflict-torn southeast (Donbas), the press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry announced Tuesday.

"The 12th humanitarian aid convoy that will deliver food stuffs, medicine and other essentials to Donbas will be formed in the Rostov region," an Emergencies Ministry representative said, adding that the aid will be collected from several Russian regions.

Russia's previous humanitarian convoy returned from Donbas on January 9, having delivered over 1,400 metric tons of food, medicine and holiday presents for children in southeastern Ukraine.

Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk have been suffering from a severe humanitarian crisis as a result of a military operation launched by Kiev against local independence supporters in mid-April, 2014.

Residents of Donetsk and Mariupol — another southeastern Ukrainian city, have come under intensified shelling this month.

Last week, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stressed that the Ukrainian government's regulations impeding access to the southeastern regions are undermining humanitarian agencies' ability to help people who are suffering as a result of the ongoing conflict in the country.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 1.4 million people in eastern Ukraine require humanitarian assistance.

All the general aviation aircraft operated in Russia must be equipped with state-of-the-art satellite tracking systems, which allow tracking the location of an aircraft in real-time mode and quickly finding it in case of a crash, the head of EMERCOM Vladimir Puchkov said, RIA Novosti reports.

He submitted this offer for consideration by the government commission for disaster prevention and emergency response. The corresponding draft legal act should be elaborated by June 30th 2015. Follow us on: Follow ruaviation on Twitter

“I suggest making the operators fit the general aviation aircraft with this equipment and use it during flight. This decision of the government commission must be observed by all the operators,” the minister said. Puchkov justified the proposal with the growing potential of general aviation and complexity of search-and-rescue operations.

“The general aviation aircraft fleet is growing. However, the risk of a crash remains while the aircraft’s range increases. It takes us weeks and even months to carry out search-and-rescue operations. We have been searching for one aircraft for 4 months and there was an accident, when we needed 9 months to find a vehicle,” Puchkov said.

Vanuatu is a small Pacific nation situated on 83 islands of the New Hebrides archipelago northeast of Australia

MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Russia has sent two planes with humanitarian aid to Vanuatu after a powerful cyclone wreaked havoc on the tiny island nation in the South Pacific, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said on Sunday

"Two Ilyushin Il-76 planes have taken off from the Ramensky airport in the Moscow Region with humanitarian cargo aboard today on the government’s instruction. The humanitarian aid weighs over 60 tons," Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said.

The Russian aircraft will deliver food, including sugar, canned milk, meat and fish, and also portable power generators, tents, blankets and basic necessities.

"The humanitarian aid is intended for Vanuatu residents who have suffered from a disastrous tropical cyclone that has destroyed or damaged 90% of buildings and ruined the harvest," the Emergencies Ministry said.

Vanuatu is a small Pacific nation situated on 83 islands of the New Hebrides archipelago northeast of Australia. Vanuatu residents live on 65 islands. The tiny nation has a population of 267,000 people.

A spokesperson for the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s unit in Magadan region said that the Ministry's aircraft has ended air search for the missing crew members from the Dalniy Vostok fishing freezer trawler that sank in the Sea of Okhotsk.

VLADIVOSTOK (Sputnik) — Russian Emergencies Ministry's aircraft has ended air search for the missing crew members from the Dalniy Vostok fishing freezer trawler that sank in the Sea of Okhotsk on April 1, a spokesperson for the Ministry’s unit in Magadan region said Wednesday.

“Be-200 [plane] has departed to Sakhalin. No more air search has been planned. However, two Mi-8 helicopters at Sokol airport in Magadan will go to the scene if needed,” the spokesperson told RIA Novosti.

According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, planes and sea vessels have searched through an area of more than 15,000 square miles. Currently some 20 vessels continue the search.

Also Russian Emergencies Ministry said that about 2,300 people are taking part in the rescue operation.

“A total of about 2,300 people and 117 units of equipment are taking part in the search operation… The search will be continued on Wednesday,” Far East division of the Russian Emergencies Ministry said.

According to the statement, on Wednesday a Mi-8 helicopter from Russian port city of Magadan will continue search from air. Currently 25 vessels are searching for the missing sailors at sea.

The Dalniy Vostok trawler sank in the Sea of Okhotsk about 186 miles from the Russian port city of Magadan. There were 132 people on board the vessel. Rescue teams have lifted a total of 119 people from the water, 56 of them had died. The fate of 13 crew members remains unknown. It is highly unlikely that they have survived as death is imminent for those staying in freezing waters over 15 minutes.

On Saturday, acting governor of Sakhalin Region Oleg Kozhemyako said that the violation of safety rules could have caused the accident.

CHITA, April 17. /TASS/ Aviation of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry has extinguished three major fires near the villages in Siberia’s Trans-Baikal region, the situation is stabilizing, head of the local Emergencies Ministry branch told TASS.

"The situation with fires in the Trans-Baikal region is stabilizing and is now under control," Alexander Sidorov said, adding that there was no imminent threat to populated areas and economic entities.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry is actively using aviation for extinguishing fires in the Trans-Baikal region. "Thanks to aviation three major fires in the 10-kilometer zone around the settlements have been put out," he added.

Currently, 63 fires continue to range in the Trans-Baikal region.

Presidential envoy to the Siberian Federal District Nikolay Rogozhkin has arrived in Chita on Friday to coordinate efforts to deal with the aftermath of the forest fires.

There are eight temporary accommodation centers in the region providing shelter for 33 people, including 26 children.

KATHMANDU, May 3. /TASS/. Russian Emergencies Ministry’s rescuers have inspected more than 2,300 square meters of rubble, the head of the rescue team Alexander Romanov told TASS on Sunday.

"Works were conducted in 23 areas, 34 buildings were inspected, works carried out through 2,300 square meters of rubble," Romanov said.

The Tsentrospas group continued working in the Dhading district 90 kilometers to the north-west of Kathmandu. Rescuers inspected more than 1,000 square meters of rubble.

The Leader group used heavy equipment in clearing out rubble in the Sitapaila district and inspected five buildings.

Eighty-six people sought medical help from Russian doctors, including 23 Russians, 56 Nepalese citizens and three Ukrainians.

Russian Emergencies Ministry’s An-148 plane is expected to arrive to Nepal on Sunday. It will evacuate 34 people from the earthquake-stricken country.

The devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal on April 25. The death toll of the earthquake has reached 7,000 people, according to latest reports, while more than 14,000 others were injured. According to the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC), at least 6.6 million citizens have been affected by the disaster.

Seismologists have registered 67 aftershocks after the devastating earthquake. The magnitude of aftershocks varied from 3.2 to 6.9, most of them were felt on the territory of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Rescue operations may take up to three weeks

Rescue operations in earthquake-stricken Nepal may take up to three weeks, Nepalese police spokesman told TASS on Sunday.

"Helicopters carrying humanitarian aid have reached most remote areas. It will take time to deliver aid to all regions. According to our estimates, rescue operations may take 15-20 more days," the spokesman said.

He added that according to latest data, 7,057 people died and 14,227 others were injured in the disaster.

Russian Emergencies Ministry’s rescuers have inspected more than 2,300 square meters of rubble, the head of the rescue team Alexander Romanov told TASS earlier on Sunday. "Works were conducted in 23 areas, 34 buildings were inspected, works carried out through 2,300 square meters of rubble," Romanov said.

EMERCOM of Russia is going to purchase 12 state-of-the-art aircraft in 2015, including six Be-200ChS amphibian aircraft in 2015, RIA Novosti reports.

“The key event for 2015-2018 period is “deliveries of 4 Mi-8MTV-1 helicopters, 6 Be-200ChS aircraft and 2 Sukhoi SuperJet 100 jets to EMERCOM in 2015,“ said in the ministry’s report. Follow us on: Follow ruaviation on Twitter

It is planned to purchase one medical module for a helicopter intended for evacuation of injured people in the network of a program for re-equipping the ministry’s aviation.

Earlier the head of EMERCOM. Vladimir Puchkov said that this year the ministry is going to take delivery of medevac vehicles, including Sukhoi SuperJet 100 and Mi-8MTV helicopters fitted with all the equipment required for fire-fighting, monitoring and carrying out medevac operations. According to the minister, Be-200ChS aircraft are in production.

Today EMERCOM has eight aviation centers, which are located in Zhukovsky (Moscow Region), Pulkovo-2 airport (near St. Petersburg), Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Mineralnie Vodi, Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk. The “Yuzhniy” aviation center’s (located in Rostov-on-Don) area of responsibility also includes Crimea.

Russian Emergencies Ministry has provided aid to nearly 140 countries of the world

MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry has conducted about 300 humanitarian operations abroad over the past 20 years, providing aid to nearly 140 countries of the world, the ministry’s press service said on Wednesday on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day, marked every August 19.

Designated by the United Nations General Assembly to remember the 22 UN and relief agency staff who lost their lives in a 2003 bombing of the organisation's Baghdad headquarters, World Humanitarian Day has become an occasion to celebrate and pay tribute to aid workers who help millions of people affected by humanitarian crises around the world.

"Since 2012, the Russian Emergencies Ministry is bringing humanitarian aid to the people of Syria suffering from ongoing armed conflicts. At the same time, necessary assistance is provided to Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan," the ministry said, adding that it was also implementing various humanitarian projects in Cuba, Jordan, Tunisia and Cameroon.

"In 2014, the Russian Emergencies Ministry in cooperation with the U.N. World Food Programme has delivered 130 Kamaz trucks to African countries to transport humanitarian aid," the ministry said. "Another 88 vehicles will be dispatched this year.".

Russian Emergencies Ministry has initiated the creation of Aviation Rescue Company, the implementation of this plan is to provide high mobility of civil defense and to reduce response time to major emergencies.

Currently, the structure of the Ministry of Emergency Situations has eight air-rescue centers, who are stationed in the city of Zhukovsky (Moscow Region), St. Petersburg, "Pulkovo-2", Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Mineralnye Vody, and Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk. The area of ​​responsibility aviation rescue center "South" (Rostov-on-Don) is also part of Crimea.

"Organized by the creation of Aviation Rescue of EMERCOM of Russia", - stated in the materials of the All-Russia meeting on the problems of civil defense and protection of the population available to the RIA Novosti news agency.

It was also decided before the end of 2015 to create and equip a number of regions of the country centers of unmanned aircraft.

According to news agency "Interfax", the Russian Emergencies Ministry and the Ulyanovsk aircraft plant "Aviastar-SP" on November 17 signed an agreement to supply six Il-76MD-90A from 2016 to 2022, said the head of the Ministry of Vladimir Puchkov.